Business leaders call on ministers to cut tax on clean fuels to replace diesel August 31, 2023 Business leaders and environmental campaigners have called on the government to cut duties on clean replacements for diesel. In a letter to transport minister Jesse Norman, a group of more than 30 signatories warned of the “urgent imperative” to reduce harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. Industry leaders argued that the government should support cleaner fuels [...]
Rishi Sunak breached MPs’ code of conduct by not declaring wife Akshata Murty’s shares August 24, 2023 Rishi Sunak broke the MPs’ code of conduct by failing to correctly declare his wife’s shares in a childminding company, the Commons’ standards commissioner has said. Daniel Greenberg concluded the breach arose out of the prime minister’s “confusion” around the rules on declaration, and decided to close the inquiry without the need for further action. [...]
Explainer: Committing to the pension triple lock once again August 17, 2023 Every six months or so, the political world plunges into a debate about the pension triple lock. This summer is no exception, with Rishi Sunak promising to stick to it this week. The triple lock regulates pensions, redefining the amount pensioners will get every April by whatever is highest between pay growth, inflation or 2.5 [...]
Over-50s skills gap persists as unemployment increases August 15, 2023 Skills bootcamps schemes are failing to get over-50s back onto payrolls, despite ministers prioritising older Brits returning to the workforce. Labour accused the government of not helping enough over-55s to retrain and claimed older workers were “abandoned to the scrapheap”, making up just one in 20 reskilling trainees. Adults aged 55 to 67 make up [...]
Amazon forecasts bright third quarter on resilient cloud sales and shopping trends August 4, 2023 Amazon reported sales growth and profit that beat expectations as the company delivered goods faster and more cheaply to shoppers while recent cloud-computing headwinds began to subside. Amazon’s Wall Street shares surged nine per cent on the news, extending its stock market value more than $120 billion in after-hours trading. On the FTSE 100 index, [...]
London nannies’ pay rises to £43,000 as parents fail to secure nursery places August 3, 2023 London parents are having to pay more for nannies because of a lack of nursery places, according to Nannytax, with salaries on average now at £43,000. The government has been urged by the firm to amend its “nonsensical” approach to childcare payments set out in the spring budget, with demand for nannies skyrocketing as early [...]
Alcohol duty rise is ‘biggest shake up’ in decades as booze to be taxed by strength August 1, 2023 The price of beer and wine will increase today as part of plans previously set out in the Spring Budget. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the measures as part of the budget back in March, which saw an end to the blanket alcohol duty freeze which was put in place via the Autumn Budget 2020 during [...]
Boeing delays don’t take shine off Ryanair’s post-pandemic takeoff July 24, 2023 Ryanair saw its first quarter profits fly past pre-pandemic levels to €663m (£572m) in the three months up to the end of June as it cashed in on soaring demand and rising ticket fares. The budget carrier is currently operating its largest ever summer schedule and said passenger traffic rose 11 per cent to 50.4 [...]
FTSE finance chiefs: Rates, inflation and growth squeeze C-suite confidence July 17, 2023 Ratcheting up interest rate expectations and intense fears about sticky inflation has hobbled FTSE finance chiefs’ optimism, a closely watched survey out today shows. Confidence among chief financial officers (CFO) of FTSE-listed companies has tumbled over the last quarter, according to consultancy Deloitte. Optimism among money managers at Britain’s largest businesses has eroded to net [...]
Winkworth shares tumble as estate agent issues profit warning amid mortgage slump July 12, 2023 Winkworth shares tumbled 14 per cent this morning after the estate chain issued a profit warning due to soaring interest rates and a fresh slump in mortgage approvals. The company which has over 90 branches across the UK said that the sales market proved more challenging in the second quarter of the year, as rate [...]